Meet the MPOC Team!

Optometrists

Dr. Karen Lo

Optometrist, OD

Dr. Lo was born and raised in Vancouver. She studied at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Science where she completed her pre-Optometry requirements. She then attended the University of Waterloo where she obtained her Doctor of Optometry degree in 2011 and graduated on the Dean's Honour List.

Dr. Roger Gafur

Optometrist, BSc, OD

Originally from Toronto, Dr. Gafur attended the University of Toronto on a Canada's Scholarship and a President's Scholarship (top 1% of students). In 1993 he obtained a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Physics and Human Biology, and a double minor in Philosophy and Mathematics - and he graduated with honours.

Dr. Jessica Chan

Optometrist, BSc, OD

Dr. Chan has been working in British Columbia since she graduated from the University of Waterloo School of Optometry program in 2007. She is passionate about Optometry and is also involved within the profession through volunteer and humanitarian work including serving on the public relations committee with the British Columbia Association of Optometrists.

Dr. Evelyn Lo

Optometrist, BSc, OD

Dr. Evelyn Lo obtained her Bachelor of Science at Simon Fraser University. She then pursued her Doctor of Optometry degree at Pacific University in Portland Oregon. In her final year of studies, she completed an intensive ocular disease rotation at the No. 1 ranked Eye Hospital in the United States, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. She graduated with distinction and was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Award for her exceptional service and commitment to optometry.

Dr. Kevin C. Mowbray

Optometrist, BBA, BSc, OD

Dr. Mowbray completed a double major in his undergraduate studies: a Bachelor of Science at the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Business Administration at Wilfrid Laurier University. He then went on to get his Doctorate of Optometry at the University of Waterloo.

Dr. Karen Plangg

Optometrist, BSc, OD

Born and raised in Vancouver, Karen attended undergrad at UBC and then went on to complete her Doctor of Optometry degree at the University of Waterloo and graduated in 2004. In her final year she completed an ocular disease rotation where she spent four months at an eye hospital in Kenya providing school vision screenings in remote villages.

Dr. Cindy Ho

Optometrist, BSc, OD, PhD

Dr. Ho obtained her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Optometry degrees with Dean's Honours from the University of Waterloo and more recently obtained a PhD degree in Neuroscience from the University of British Columbia. In addition to private practice, she is involved in research at BC's Children's Hospital and the Eye Care Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.

Dr. Kelvin So

Optometrist, BSc, OD

Dr. Kelvin So obtained his Bachelor of Science at the University of British Columbia. He then studied optometry at Pacific University in Portland Oregon, graduating as valedictorian with the highest academic record in his class. He loves to share his knowledge with patients who are interested in eye health

Dr. Meghan Bantle

Optometrist, OD

Originally from Saskatoon, Dr. Bantle is happy to now call Vancouver home after graduating from the University of Waterloo School of Optometry program in 2011. She graduated Dean’s Honours List and received the Alcon CPE Award for exceptional performance within the Contact Lens portion of the curriculum.

Opticial Staff

Alexis Swanson

Head of MPOC Optical Dispensing

Alexis, another born and raised Vancouverite, comes to us with an astounding 16 years of experience in the Optical Industry. Her experience runs the gamut from front reception to managing one of Vancouver's largest clinics.

Optical Dispensing

Mr. Bob Butler

Local LEGEND

People all over Vancouver have been calling Bob their 'Optician' for years. Truth is, Bob has been helping people with their spectacles since long before the current legal term 'Optician' has been used in BC! He has been here at MPOC since we first opened January 2, 1950.

Baljinder Hayre

Optical Dispensing

Baljinder was born in Punjab, India and moved to Vancouver with her family when she was 10 years old. She volunteered during highschool at local Senior's centres and went on to complete her MOA (Medical Office Assistant) certification at Vancouver Community College in 1997.

Dana Lacombe

Optical Dispensing

Dana was born and raised in Edmonton but relocated to Vancouver and joined us in 2016. Dana is an Optical Dispenser and completed her studies and certification at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2014.

Terri-Lynn Weatherby

Licensed Optician

Terri-Lynn grew up in the ranching and farming community of northern Alberta. Today she lives on a small hobby farm in Abbotsford where she loves spending time outdoors, horseback riding, and with her family.

Assistants

Jasmine Mierdel

Optometric Assistant

Hardeep Shoker

Optometric Assistant

Hardeep was born in India and moved to Vancouver in 2002. She completed the Medical Office Assistant (MOA) program at BCIT in 2013 and upon graduation started working in Optometry Clinics. We were very fortunate to get her on our team in late 2014 as she has proven to be a very quick learner and she handles the flow of our busy clinic very well.

Vivian Chan

Optometric Assistant

Over the past 15 years we have employed many 'pre-optometry' students from UBC in our clinic - they have consistently proven to be smart, diligent, and hard-working - and Vivian, our latest pre-op student, is certainly no exception!

Jessica Tarka

Optometric Assistant

Jessica was born and raised in Calgary and attending high school in the Netherlands, where she lived for 5 years. After graduating, she attended McGill University in Montreal and earned her Bachelor degree in Chemistry.

Leonora Castillo

Optometric Assistant

Nora was born in Cagayan, Philippines, and moved to Canada in 1991. She underwent training in office administration and in 1996 completed the Medical Office Assistant program. After nearly 10 years working in Medical clinics in Vancouver, she joined us here at Mount Pleasant Optometry in 2005.

Holly McLeod

Optometric Assistant

Holly moved to Vancouver from Calgary in 2009 to attend UBC and complete a BSc in Food, Nutrition and Health. She is currently continuing her studies and pursuing her passion for health care at BCIT in the nursing program.

Harpreet Birak

Optometric Assistant

Harpreet was born and raised in Vancouver and joined our team here at MPOC in 2016. She is one of our student staff members and is currently enrolled at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) in the Bachelor of Psychology program.

Nicole Morse

Optometric Assistant

Nicole was born in Prince George and grew up in Maple Ridge. Upon graduating high school she moved to Vancouver and completed a diploma in one of her personal interests, Baking and Pastry, at the Art Institute of Vancouver. She also had an interest in Healthcare and found work as a Navigator at BC Children and Women’s Hospital, and as a ‘Wayfinder’ at VGH.

Cynthia Raj

Optometric Assistant

Cynthia came on board with us late in 2013 and has been a wonderful addition to the team here at MPOC. She has over 6 years experience working in private practice Optometric clinics and has been a tremendous help here getting us set up for the first time for direct billing and helping organize our contact lens trials.

Connect with Us!

We are a modern, progressive vision clinic in Uptown Vancouver at the corner of Broadway and Quebec, and we have been in this same location for over 65 years. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality vision care services, therapies and products.